21st Annual Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest People
Chef Mike at the Baghdad Cafe, Newberry Springs, California

Despite its remote location in the desert along Route 66, the Baghdad Cafe in Newberry Springs, California, attracts a steady flow of tourists thanks to having been the setting of the eponymous 1987 movie. If you should arrive in Newberry Springs hungry, Chef Mike will make sure you don't leave that way. A desert dweller since leaving Orange County in 1978, Mike has many tales of celebrities who’ve stopped in at the cafe and his own turn in front of the camera as an extra in 2 scenes of “Erin Brockovich.” Once known as the Sidewinder Cafe, the Baghdad changed its name after the movie was shot there.

Photo Detail
Date Taken: 04.2021
Date Uploaded: 09.2023
Photo Location: Newberry Springs, California, United States of America
Camera: LEICA M10
Copyright: © Virginia Hines